Gardasil Side Effects

A report conducted by the U. S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and released in August 2009 raised concerns about the safety of cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil. According to the report, more than 25 million doses of Gardasil have been distributed in the United States, and is recommended for girls and women ages 9-26 by manufacturer Merck, Inc.

According to the study, which took into account incidents of adverse events reported to the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) since the drug’s introduction in 2006, there was an average of 53.9 VAERS reports per 100,000 vaccine doses. Of these, 40 percent occurred on the day of vaccination, and 6.2 percent were serious, including 32 reports of death.

In February 2009, the National Vaccine Information Center, a private vaccine-safety group, conducted a comparative study of adverse events reported following a Menactra (meningococcal) vaccine versus the Gardasil vaccine. Both vaccines are recommended for youngsters in the same age group, at 11-12 years old (Menactra for boys and girls, Gardasil for girls only). The study compares VAERS data reported for each vaccine.

The study found that Gardasil is associated with at least twice as many Emergency Room visit reports, four times more death reports, five times more “did not recover” reports, and seven times more “disabled” reports, as compared to Menactra.

Other findings of this study show that compared to Menactra:

Gardasil is associated with all reports of blood clots

Gardasil is associated with at lest four times as many cardiac arrestreports

Gardasil is associated with at least six times as many fainting reports

Gardasil is associated with at least four times as many Lupus reports

Gardasil is associated with at least 15 times as many stroke reports

In general, the report concludes, “although Gardasil is given in a three-shot series and only one dose of Menactra is given, Menactra is given to both boys and girls while Gardasil is given only to girls. It is unusual for there to be such a big discrepancy between two vaccines used in similar populations involving serious and relatively rare life threatening adverse events andautoimmune disorders such as death, blood clots, cardiac arrest, lupus, thrombosis, stroke and vasculitis.”

Gardasil Timeline

We work with clients and attorneys throughout the country, representing plaintiffs and claimants in a wide variety of litigation in many different practice areas.

We are one of the country's leading firms involved in civil litigation, having represented hundreds of thousands of people. We hold national records for the largest jury verdicts in numerous categories.